By Jessie Burchette
jburchette@salisburypost.comWOODLEAF ó A nasty electrical storm buffeted much of northwestern Rowan Friday night sparking a fire that destroyed a house on Wetmore Road.
The storm moved from Iredell County, sweeping across a chunk of Rowan, dumping heavy rain and a barrage of lightning, before going north into Davie County.
Around midnight, Michael Williams smelled smoke in his two-story wood frame house at 480 Wetmore Road.
Williams called for help and within minutes the house was engulfed in flames.
Firefighters from Woodleaf and four other departments responded and battled for 90 minutes to get the fire under control, according to Tim Moore, deputy chief of the Woodleaf Fire Department.
Williams wife and teen-aged children arrived home as firefighters were working to contain the blaze.
Firefighters remained on the scene until 5 a.m. Saturday making sure all the hot spots were doused.
Moore said the house was destroyed, however firefighters were able to assist family members with salvaging some items from a couple of closets.
An investigator with the Rowan Fire Marshal’s office determined the fire was caused from a power surge due to the storm.
The Williams family was offered assistance from the Red Cross but had other plans.
An estimated 25 firefighters battled the fire including Franklin, Jerusalem, Cleveland and Locke Departments in addition to Cleveland.
The Rowan Rescue Squad also assisted.
An hour or so before the Wetmore Road fire, Woodleaf was called out to a lighting strike on a singlewide mobile home on Wrangle Road.
The strike caused some smoke in the home.
“We had it horrible for a while. It was quite nasty,” Moore said.
Contact Jessie Burchette at 704-797-4254.